Watching the world of east London politics

Anti-Semites and Respect/Labour Lutfur backers

Waiseul Islam was elected as a Respect councillor in 2006. When George Galloway refused to grant him two favours, firstly to grant his desperate request for a personal loan (I was told this by a very close friend of George’s), and then to make him the parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow, he jumped ship to Labour. Senior bods in Respect laughed off his departure, labelling him a strange Walter Mitty type without brains.

Labour welcomed him with open arms because he helped bolster their slim overall majority in the pre-2010 council chamber.

After he agreed to support Lutfur for Labour group leader in 2008, he was suddenly given the new and paid title of Tower Hamlets Olympics Ambassador. He even tried, but failed, to secure a tax-paid trip to the Beijing Games in 2008.

Last May, the voters booted him out. Despite the tensions of covering a place like Tower Hamlets politics, we always got on OK…or so I thought.

Yesterday, I posted that Wais had effectively expelled himself from the Labour party after urging in an article for London Bangla to vote for Lutfur.

Here’s the actual article:

In the first in a series of unsavoury anti-Semitic exposes of Respect-linked comments on various websites, here’s Wais Islam insulting me on his Facebook site (as he knows I’m monitoring such things, it could well be deliberately provocative, but that’s no excuse; and as it happens, he does not know what faith, if any, I hold):

Wais Islam is seeing Labour GenSec Ray Collins to save my political career from Ted Jeory who says I’ve been expelled apparently. But why is Ray still writing to me? Come on pussy Jewry, try harder u low life peasant!

Wais Islam I saw this working class ‘wanna-be-upmarket-urban-rat-low life who hates Labour drinking a pint outside my local rather posh pub Morgan Arms in the Bow Conservation Area last year and said in my mind, ‘nice try asshole’!

3 minutes ago

Wais Islam They can’t expel me unless they also expel all the white Labours members who are with me on this Save Democracy in Labour campaign!

Wais Islam is urging Andrew Gilligan and Ted Jewry to investigate what percentage of Lutfur’s so called ‘extremist Islamist’ or Muslim votes Ed Miliband got that won him Labour Leadership because some people in fish pakiland Tower Hamlets are dying to produce a dossier to complain to the NEC for Ed’s suspension!

Does anyone think this is inflammatory?

UPDATE – Thursday, Sep 30

Wais Islam has sent a personal message apologising unreservedly to me for his remarks, which he says he made during a time of intense personal stress and family grief. He insists he is not anti-Semitic and I have accepted it. He says he will be taking a break from politics for some time.

Ted you really are a nasty piece of work. The anti-semitic card is what right-wing lazy pundits such as you play when you cannot engage in coherent debates. No wonder you work for the express. Me and wais do not see eye to eye in politics but I can categorically say that he is not anti-semitic. I await your so-called evidence of respect-inspired racist comments. Do not worry I advocate freedom of expression so make it as defamatory as you want. Please learn to debate effectively.

Is Wais Islam an anti-semite? I quote from his Facebook page
“it’s official: many IFE Labour members voted for Ed Miliband. Will they suspend him or let him go cos his co-Jewish financier friends will shove cactus plants up NEC members’ arses…” Or is he just an idiot?

I do not see how these statements prove that wais is anti-semitic. The comments are clearly aggressive but I just do not see how they can be generalised as anti-semitic. From what I know Wais is an ardent advocate of palestinian rights who are themselves semitic. Yes ted having anti-palestinian views can also be deemed anti-semitic. It seems ted you are extremely insecure about the prospect of lutfur winning and are engaging in a delirious witch-hunt against supporters of lutfur. As I have said before I challenge you to a public debate on these issues. Are you man enough to come out and face a rigorous grilling?

Wais’s sudden conversion to Lutfur is inexplicable. We’ve all been scratching our heads as to his sudden conversion. He wasn’t a supporter of Lutfur before Lutfur was expelled, so why become a supporter after. He wasn’t a secret supporter of Lutfur either; they didn’t have a high opinion of him.
The point about needing a loan does make me wonder if this could explain the unexplained. After all, there is no shortage of money around Lutfur. I’ve never known a candidate to win a Labour Party selection and throw a £10,000 party.
I’d be surprised if Ed Miliband’s team are getting anything more than a crate of beer tonight, and he’s in line to be a prime minister.
Right now, I have absolutely no idea why Wais Islam has so suddenly become converted to Lutfur Rahman. It’s inexplicable.

The comments about Jewish financiers are prettyndecisive in invoking a nasty old anti Semitic stereotype that has been used against Jews for centuries. Combined with “Jewry” as a term of abuse I think defenders of Wais should think very carefully about what they are associating themselves with.

Ignore Bodrul Islam’s aggressive bluster, his tedious repetition and his thinly veiled threats. He cannot debate anything without going around and around in circles conveniently ignoring the point of his opponents argument until his adversaries are eventually too bored to care about continuing to play with him. By virtue of having the last word he then struts about proudly claiming victory like a little boy at his first job. When he’s wheeled out to defend someone else you know Respect are desperate. So is the self proclaimed champion of cultural division the best they’ve got? His repeated demands to “come out and show yourself” are the politics of thuggery and intimidation and are precisely the same sort of tactics as used by the Nazis against their opponents during the 1930s. Don’t give him the pleasure of a “debate” because he’s only looking for an opportunity to shout and scream at you so he can impress his new love interest.

I’ve seen the ‘extremist’ card used by people to ruin a person. And the race card aswell. It helps to ask questions and understnad what the person is saying first ebfore labelling. Labelling is easy. Lets not over react and get emotional. Words are loaded. Terms are loaded and mean different thinsg to different people.

A bizarre comment by h the w, are you trying to be a rapper? Ted avoids the debate because he has no case to answer, especially with regards the ife. If you deem a challenge to a debate intimidating, then I wonder what planet you are from. If you have limited literacy ability you will see I am engaging with the points and ted is staying true to a typical express journalist i.e. No substance. The nazi jibe just shows how intellectually bankcrupt you are. You are insulting the victims of nazi rule. H the w or whatever crap you are, take some valium medication for you are clearly delirious. Take some immodium too, it might mitigate some of your verbal diarrhoea.

Sorry – I posted something under the “Labour Councillors defect” thread that I meant to put here. The sentence in the thread above I was objecting to specifically says that this thread is:
“the first in a series of unsavoury anti-Semitic exposes of Respect-linked comments”, and highlights the statements of Labour member Wais Islam.

My point was:

“What’s this got to do with Respect?

Wais Islam left Respect in May 2007 and has had nothing more to do with it, having been in the Labour Party for the last three years. Trying to insinuate Respect has something to do with his stupid comments and with anti-semitism in general is a bit like blaming the Labour Party for the rise of Hitler because Oswald Mosley of the British Union of Fascists was once a Labour cabinet minister.

Respect has always opposed anti-semitism and its leader Salma Yaqoob stepped out of line within the muslim community for opposing the boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day by the very establishment oriented Muslim Council of Britain.

Hi Ted
I’ve only just looked at your recent posts. The comments made by Wais are simply disgusting and I hope he is ashamed of himself (and so should anyone who tries to defend his remarks).
I just hope (and expect) that he at least apologies immediately without any reservation at all.

Agree with Rachel, this blog is not about the facts any more, it’s a partisan opinion like so many others.

Most people desperately need facts about the ‘unusual world’ of Tower Hamlets, not one-sided opinion.

In whose interests is it for Abbas to get in? What backbone has he ever shown on any issue? He has simply been used by people behind the scenes, so what’s in it for them and where do they want Tower Hamlets to go (apart from using is to shore up their power as before)?

What’s Ted’s reason for so clearly supporting those guys, given what they’ve been up to in control of the council since 1994? Where’s the scrutiny gone?

And leaving individuals aside, might it not be better for democracy to have an Independent instead of returning the same old crooked lot to their comfortable positions?

When the bigots resort to insults then the truth is out Ted. The truth is laid bare about the fascism and racism endemic in the Asian, Bangladeshi Muslim community. The truth like their overt hatred is omnipresent and saying otherwise is living in denial.